Texture, Marylebone, W1

Former head chef at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Sverrisson has earned the first Michelin star for an Icelandic chef

To make the famous Icelandic delicacy rotting shark, or hakarl, you must first
find your shark. Next, behead it, gut it and bury it in the ground near the
beach for four to six months.

Then dig it up and let it hang for three to six months, before eating the
flesh. “My grandfather used to snack on it in front of the television,” says
Agnar Sverrisson.

If that sounds like a lot of trouble, you could visit his restaurant, Texture.
Aggi, as he calls himself, always keeps some in the kitchen for Icelandic
guests, although the dining room must be cleared before it is served. “It
stinks,” he says.

Sverrisson started cooking in Iceland in 1992 and became determined to succeed
after reading a Marco Pierre White book. He later worked with Pierre
Koffmann and Marcus Wareing and was head chef at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons
before opening Texture three years ago.

The food is light and healthy — he restricts cream and butter to desserts, and
the menu is packed with fish — mostly Icelandic.

This year, Texture was awarded a Michelin star, the first for an Icelandic
chef. Another distinction is that the restaurant boasts a young female
sommelier, 25-year-old Swede Erica Laler.

Diners’ verdict

For a “delicious contemporary dining experience”, this Marylebone three-
year-old is hard to beat and it offers an “interesting” (“non-obvious”) wine
selection to match its “creative” fare; decor can seem “weirdly bland”, but
the place’s rising popularity makes this less of an issue than it was.